U.S. appellate court: Utah cannot ban same-sex marriages

A Denver-based federal appeals court, in the first-of-its-kind decision, ruled Wednesday that Utah must allow same sex couples the right to marry.

The three-judge panel of the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower federal court ruling, and delivered a blunt message to the Beehive State:

Julie Engbloom, left, and Laurie Brown, right, get married in Portland on May 19, after a federal judge threw out Oregon’s ban on same-sex marriages. Other federal judges’ rulings are on appeal. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, on Wednesday, upheld a lower court decision that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage was discriminatory. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes)

“We hold that the 14th Amendment protects the fundamental right to marry, establish a family, raise children, and enjoy the full protection of a state’s marriage rights laws.

“A state may not deny the issuance of a marriage license to two persons, or refuse to recognize their marriage, based solely upon the sex of the persons in the marriage union.”

The appeals court immediately stayed its ruling pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal judge ruled last December that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. An estimated 2,000 couples tied the knot over the next 17 days, until the Supreme Court stayed the ruling pending appeal.

The federal government is recognizing the marriages performed during the 17-day “window.” Utah has said it will deny recognition, a denial specifically rejected by the 10th Circuit. Its ruling went on to ask and answer:

“May a state in the Union constitutionally deny a citizen the benefit of protection of the laws of the state based solely upon the sex of the person that citizen chooses to marry?

“Having heard and carefully considered the argument of litigants, we conclude that, consistent with the United States Constitution, the state of Utah may not do so.”

The 10th Circuit decision came as a U.S. District Court Judge in Indiana was tossing out the Hoosier State’s ban on marriage equality. Judge Richard Young wrote:

“Same-sex couples, who would otherwise qualify to marry in Indiana, have the right to marry in Indiana. These couples when gender and sexual orientation are taken away, are in all respects like the family down the street. The Constitution demands that we treat them as such.”

Opposition to same-sex marriage has popped like a soap bubble since the Supreme Court’s June, 2013, ruling that threw out a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The court ruled it discriminatory for the federal government to deny benefits to same-sex couples legally married in states that observe marriage equality.

Since then, court rulings have brought marriage equality to such states as Oregon, New Jersey and New Mexico. Legislatures have legalized same-sex marriage in Hawaii, Minnesota, Illinois, Delaware, and Rhode Island.

A succession of federal court decisions have thrown out state laws against same-sex marriage, including those in such conservative states as Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma and Texas. The rulings have been put on hold as the issue makes its way up the ladder of the federal court system. It is clearly headed back to the Supreme Court.

In one state, Oregon, a federal judge’s ruling has stood, because the state attorney general refused to defend the state’s gay marriage ban in court, and anti-gay rights activists were ruled to lack standing to participate in the case.